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Driving here, down Interstate 40, is a musical journey in itself, told through roadside billboards.

At first, you are encouraged to stop at Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch and Kitchen, but as you pass by cotton fields and vines, the Tina Turner museum in Brownsville calls your attention, then as you approach Memphis huge letters scream out ‘Elvis Lives … at the new 450-room Guest House at Graceland’.

(Image: Elaine Livingstone/Glasgow Live)

There are political signs too, but from only one side of the campaign. Trump-Pence billboards promise to ‘Make America Great Again, but Hillary Clinton is less visible during this visit to Tennessee.

She pops up looking fierce in an attack ad by the Trump campaign, aired during Monday Night Football.

Then she appears again the following night, in an ad of her own, where kids watch Trump rallies on television as he mocks people with disabilities and abuses women. ’Children are watching’ is her simple message.

It’s a tougher city than Nashville, with an edge on the streets. There is no hiding the poverty. A well-meaning white woman advises to “be aware of your surroundings, there are a lot of beggars here”, while a waitress bids farewell with a sincere “y’all stay safe now, you hear?”

(Image: Elaine Livingstone/Glasgow Live)

Mario, a homeless man who carries a rolled up jotter where he chronicles his life and thoughts tells us: “There’s a lot of racism in Memphis, but everyone seems too concerned with what white people are doing to black people. The bigger problem is what black people are doing to other black people. That’s what we need to sort out.”

The majestic Mississippi evokes familiar images for any reader of the great American novelists, casting romantic reflections of Mark Twain, riverboat paddle steamers, hobos, hustlers and deep southern harmony.

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In reality, there’s a monstrous big glass pyramid along its Memphis banks, which appears to be the world’s largest fishing tackle shop.

It’s not exactly the place you’d expect to find a hotel, but the bizarre nature of The Big Cypress Lodge doesn’t stop there. This place is fitted out like a wooden hunting lodge with stuffed bears, a couple of live alligators, a shooting range and no windows. There are more stuffed animals here than in Kelvingrove Museum.

(Image: Elaine Livingstone/Glasgow Live)

It used to be home to local basketball team the Memphis Grizzlies and was the site where heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis beat up a tired, old Mike Tyson.

Now it looks like the Addams Family mansion crossed with Trump Tower.

So it goes.

We move to the stately southern grandeur of The Peabody for our second night in Memphis, but not before we have a drink in the fishing shop’s Uncle Buck’s bar and bowling alley and are served by a barmaid who goes by the name of Tomorrow.

The fact that Tomorrow isn’t going to vote is the strongest sign yet that things might not be going Clinton’s way.

“I’m usually Democrat, because … [she points at her own black skin and shrugs] … you know.

“I voted for Obama, but I can’t trust Hillary. I don’t believe a word she says. If I did vote then it would be for Trump.

“At least I know he means what he says. What can he be lying about? He’s telling us exactly what he thinks and how it’s going to be. If you don’t like it, y’all can suck it.”

(Image: Elaine Livingstone/Glasgow Live)

Later on, Beale Street barman Keith is genuinely concerned at the state of his country’s democratic process.

“The whole thing is a mess,” he says. “Something has to happen soon or we are heading for a revolution. Seriously.”